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04-08-02 PC Minutes e - e .- e Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 8, 2002 A regular meeting of the Planning Commission was held at the Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota, on Monday, April 8, 2002. Chair Pentel called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Those present were Chair Pentel and Commissioners Eck, Groger, McAleese Rasmussen and Shaffer. Also present were Director of Planning and Development Mark Grimes, City Planner Dan Olson and Recording Secretary Lisa Wittman. Commissioner Hoffman was absent. I. Approval of Minutes - March 25, 2002 Planning Commission Meeting MOVED by Groger, seconded by Rasmussen and motion carried unanimously to approve the March 25, 2002 minutes as submitted. II. Informal Public Hearing - Minor Subdivision (SU 04- 02) Applicants: Karin Muchemore, Jay Tirpak, Raymond Anderson, and Fred Reiter Address: 3124,3138,3142, and 3146 Quail Avenue North, Golden Valley, MN The applicants are requesting a subdivision of the parcels of land in order to redraw the property lines to more accurately reflect the perceived property lines. Purpose: Olson referred to a site map and pointed out the locations of the four properties involved in the proposed subdivision. He stated the applicants are requesting this minor subdivision because the property lines need to be redrawn to correct several building and driveway encroachments. He discussed the qualifications for a minor subdivision and stated that all of the new lots, except for the frontage at 3138 Quail and the building setback requirements for 3142 Quail, meet the qualifications for a minor subdivision. Olson informed the Planning Commission that the property at 3142 would have to apply for variances at a Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting. Pentel asked if the variances could be added to the Planning Commissions recommendation as a condition of approval. Olson stated that the request would have to go to the BZA after the minor subdivision is approved by the City Council. Eck referred to the survey and asked where it lists the frontage measurements for the new property lines. Olson stated that he verified all of the measurements with the surveyor. Grimes stated at the preliminary stage, minor subdivision requests only require a sketch. Groger asked Staff if they are reasonably sure that there are no other properties in the City that are in a similar situation. Olson stated that he has heard that there may be a e e e - e Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 8, 2002 Page 2 similar problem across the street, but until a resident comes forward to do a remodeling project and submits a survey the City has no way of knowing. McAleese stated that the location of the existing homes makes sense but that he couldn't figure out how the developer originally drew the lot lines. Jay Tirpak, Applicant, stated that his guess is that a surveyor might have measured the lot lines off of Triton Avenue instead of Quail Avenue. He stated that the way the houses are situated makes sense; they've just had the wrong property lines for 52 years. Ray Anderson, Applicant, stated that the neighbors have agreed to this minor subdivision amicably. He feels it makes sense to do the subdivision they way it is being the proposed because it fits the way they've been living. Fred Reiter, Applicant stated that he would like to second what the other neighbors have said. Pentel opened the public hearing. Hearing and seeing no one, Pentel closed the public hearing. McAleese questioned why the Board of Zoning Appeals would need to be involved in. the subdivision. He stated that the Planning Commission should be recommending to the City Council that they be the ones to grant the variances because the City is creating the lots that don't conform to the Zoning Code. Shaffer stated that sending the request for variances to the Board of Zoning Appeals seems redundant. Olson stated that once this minor subdivision is approved it would make all previously granted variances null and void. He clarified that the Planning Commission would be approving a variance from the Subdivision Code, not the Zoning Code. Grimes stated that if the properties were not granted the variances now, they wouldn't be conforming lots. He explained that if the property owners ever want to add additions to their homes in the future, they would have to get the zoning variances then. MOVED by Shaffer, seconded by McAleese and motion carried unanimously to approve the request for a minor subdivision of the parcels of land located at 3124, 3138, 3142, and 3146 Quail Avenue North in order to correct several encroachments and redraw the property lines to more accurately reflect the perceived property lines. - Short Recess - III. Reports on Meetings of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council, Board of Zoning Appeals and other Meetings e - e e e Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 8, 2002 Page 3 Groger reported on the April 1, 2002 City Council meeting where they approved the request by Unlimited Inspiration for a massage therapy school. Grimes added that the City is looking at possibly rewriting the whole massage ordinance. Rasmussen reported on the March 12, 2002 HRA meeting where they discussed asking the County to donate the Sheriff Site land. Grimes stated that that is not going to happen and that the County is holding the land off of the market and looking at other funding possibilities. He stated there needs to be five to seven different funding sources. IV. Other Business A. Presentation of Golden Valley Resident Survey Results - Cheryl Weiler, City Communication Coordinator. Weiler gave the Commission some of the background information about how the visioning process works and how it was planned. She stated that the City surveyed other cities both locally and nationally and reported the results back to the City Council. The Council then decided to hire Decision Resources to conduct the resident surveys and small focus groups. Pentel asked about how the survey results matched the current census data. Weiler stated that Decision Resources has said that the survey results are accurate within 5+ percentage .points. The Commission discussed some of the questions on the survey and the survey results. They commented on some of the results such as: people's perception of crime, what festivals residents attend and how many residents read the City Newsletter. Pentel asked if all residents receive a copy of the City Newsletter. Weiler stated that the newsletters go out bulk rate and every address is supposed to receive a copy but it depends on the mail carrier. She stated that there is also a first-class mailing list that residents can request to be added to if they are not receiving their copy. Pentel asked how the City learns about new residents. Weiler stated that her information comes from the utility billing list. Groger commented that it seems from the survey results that residents are generally content and that there didn't seem to be any burning issues. Weiler discussed how the City has been trying to communicate better and educate residents on a range of issues and projects and that it is really working well. Pentel suggested that the City do a census of the business in the City as far as what they do, who they are, etc. Weiler stated that was a good idea and it would really help the Fire Department in their recruiting efforts. . e e e e Minutes of the Golden Valley Planning Commission April 8, 2002 Page 4 B. Discussion of definition of walls, fences, and structures - Planning Commission Member, Bob Shaffer. Shaffer discussed a property on Strawberry Lane that came to the Board of Zoning Appeals because the applicant wanted to add things to the property including a wall with a gate and was claiming hardships because of soil conditions. He stated that the Board of Zoning Appeals voted to deny the applicants request for the wall because they didn't think it was appropriate. He stated that somehow the request went to the Inspections Department where they determined it was a "fence" and not a structure that is subject to setback requirement and approved a building permit for it. Grimes stated that the Zoning Code refers to buildings, not structures so structures don't have setback requirements like buildings do. Olson stated that there is no definition in the Code for a fence. Grimes questioned what could be considered a hardship when building a wall. McAleese stated that noise could be considered a hardship in the case of walls. Shaffer stated that in this case the wall is connected to house, which would be a part of the building and not a structure. Groger stated that there should be a way for the City to control the uses of fences or walls. Grimes told the Commission that they could direct Staff to research other cities definitions of fences, walls and structures. Shaffer stated that the reason he wanted to discuss this issue is because he is concerned about the direction that fences, walls and structures are taking. He stated he would like the City to have more control over the definitions and uses of fences, walls and structures. Grimes stated that Staff would research the issues and report back to the Planning Commission. Grimes discussed the possibility of the school district using Olson School for their temporary district headquarters. He stated that he has had discussions about different options with the school district including rezoning or a conditional use permit, but that no applications have been submitted by the school district thus far. He stated that the building hasn't been used as a school for years and that there would be restrictions on keeping the green space that is there now. He stated that traffic shouldn't be an issue because the district would be using the building during regular business hours. Olson discussed some of the items that will be on the April 22, 2002 Planning Commission Agenda. v. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.